Gov. Greg Abbott called for blocking new data center development in rural parts of the state during a campaign stop in East Texas on Tuesday. “We must prohibit them from building AI data centers in rural Texas neighborhoods,” Abbott said at the Bullard event, which primarily discussed his plan to cut property taxes, adding that this issue “dovetails...
The U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday said it issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to “permanently end home appliance and equipment mandates,” continuing President Trump’s campaign against limits on how much energy is used by light bulbs, washing machines, furnaces and a host of other devices. DOE’s Appliance and Equipment Standards Program is mandated...
s an electric grid operator warns of potential power shortages amid this week’s heat wave, the Trump administration is issuing emergency orders aiming to maximize output. Energy Secretary Chris Wright issued orders directing grid operator PJM to dispatch more power generation from various fossil fuel plants, as needed, despite environmental restrictions that are typically in place. Read more...
Two months after the Trump administration canceled two large offshore wind energy leases, the US Department of the Interior (DOI) announced a settlement with Duke Energy. The agreement, announced Monday by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, allows Duke Energy, the state’s largest electrical producer and provider, to voluntarily terminate its federal offshore wind lease for its Carolina Long Bay project. The Carolina Long Bay project was planned around 22 miles...
New coal-fired generation has been effectively off the table in the U.S. for more than a decade. The TerraSpark Energy Campus is testing whether that’s still true. The DOE’s selection of the Grant County, West Virginia, project for up to $18.5 million in development funding is a notable signal that surging electricity demand—driven by data...
Forget about learning to code. Meta says it’s time to pick up a wrench. The company is starting a “workforce academy” to train Americans to build its data centers as skilled trade workers become a sought-after commodity. The five-week training program, in partnership with CBRE and the Associated Builders and Contractors, is free of charge and guarantees graduates a job at...
Facing mounting scrutiny over data center water consumption, Google on Wednesday released a set of guidelines it says should become the industry standard. Why it matters: Communities across the U.S. are increasingly pushing back against new data centers, often citing concerns about water use alongside rising power prices, local air pollution and noise. Read more in...
A secret to recovering high numbers of endangered and threatened species lies with the most overlooked among them: plants. Although endangered plants have historically received significantly less investment than endangered animals, 74% of recoveries in the last 5 years have been plants. Simply put, the Endangered Species Act is working for plants to a degree that it isn’t...
Millionaire investor Kevin O’Leary dismissed mounting opposition to his massive AI data center proposal in Utah as “ridiculous” and accused China of helping to fuel a smear campaign against his Stratos project. “I think a lot of those concerns are based on misinformation and just straight-out lies,” O’Leary said in an interview with NewsNation’s “The Hill” late Tuesday. The proposed development in the...
California just gave plastic producers until 2032 to make all their packaging recyclable or compostable — the most ambitious deadline in the country. Advocates say it doesn’t go far enough. Producers say it goes too far. At least one of them is threatening to sue. The sweeping regulations, finalized at the start of the month,...
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